


Holding Out For a Hero

by unrequitedangst



Category: Haikyuu!!, 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Fluff, Gen, Humor, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Satire, endgame is SunaOsa & SakuAtsu, this is a post-post-post-post-post-post-modern metatext
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:40:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28946814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unrequitedangst/pseuds/unrequitedangst
Summary: Not for the first time, Suna thinks it's a pity Sakusa can't be a hero.  Sakusa's ludicrously overqualified for the job: he's good at both offensiveandprotective magic, in addition to archery, sword-fighting, and hand-to-hand combat.  Sakusa's smart, and he keeps his head in tough situations, and he sees everything through to the very end.But Sakusa's biggest flaw is identical to Suna's.  They were both born as fairies.If you're a human or a demigod, you get to do great things.  If you're a demon, you get to do evil things.  But being a fairy is something that comes with--expectations.Also known as the one where Osamu is the Traveller searching for his missing twin brother, Suna is his helpful fairy sidekick, they're roaming through the world of Teyvat, and both of them are the worst possible candidates for the job.  A  Genshin Impact / Haikyuu fusion.
Relationships: Miya Osamu/Suna Rintarou
Comments: 13
Kudos: 41





	Holding Out For a Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunarins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarins/gifts).



> Happy birthday, [Hannah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarins/). Thanks for being a great friend ♥
> 
> I suppose it's a little tacky to gift someone a WIP, but let's be real, if I waited until I was done writing before posting anything, you might get it for your birthday in January 2031.

_"Sometimes a journey is not about the traveler. It is not about a destination.  
It is about the bringing together of worlds. It is about lighting a path."_  
\-- Thomas Lloyd Qualls

* * *

  
**Traveler:** Older siblings asking their younger siblings to do things for them so that they can slack off is a rather common practice . . . but my brother and I are the same age, so we had to decide these things by rock-paper-scissors.  
  
**Paimon:** Whoa. Doesn't that make you my younger brother?  
  
**Traveler:** What do you mean?  
  
**Paimon:** Well, since Paimon floats, you're the only one who can "run" any errands!  
  
**Traveler:** ... seriously?  
  


* * *

  
"Being a Hero's Companion is the best thing you can do with your life," Kuroo used to say, back when their class was starting Hero Companion School together. "It's about helping your hero work to their full potential and connect with their destiny in order to save the world!"

Connect with destiny. Sure. Suna has seen the way Kuroo hovers over his hero, nagging him to sleep regularly and eat vegetables, and Suna's confident Kenma's not saving anything anytime soon, except maybe a savefile.

Suna doesn't care about saving the world. Suna doesn't care about checking castles for a princess, or defeating evil villains that look like flowers, or fighting creepy terrorists in white masks, or any number of things that people think he should care about.

What Suna cares about is being left alone. He doesn't _want_ to be hauled around the world by some traveling Hero who will force Suna to heal them and carry things for them and laugh at their terrible, terrible jokes.

Unfortunately, the Office of Magical Career Engagement has little interest in what Suna does or doesn't care about. They also seem completely unaware that fairies as a species are not a monolith.

As a whole, Suna doesn't have anything against the Hero Companion profession. There are plenty of fairies like Sugawara and Kai who are kind and earnest and who don't mind supporting someone else on the path to something great. They're the ones who got rave reviews in their Hero Companion internships, the ones who were the very first to get placed, and they're the ones who will almost certainly make it into the history books as a footnote to someone else's glory.

But there are other fairies in Suna's class like Hoshiumi and Koganegawa who have spent their entire lives dreaming of being a hero. Being a sidekick is something they've come to accept, because that's how the world works sometimes, but they're not _happy_ about it. Sometimes you're too short to climb a mountain, sometimes you're too dumb to solve a temple puzzle.

Life isn't fair. Whatever.

And then there are the dregs of their class--fairies like Sakusa and Kyoutani and Suna himself--individuals who have no business being anywhere near this Hero Companion business. Everyone has known this since the first day of class, when their instructor told them to partner up and practice trust falls to demonstrate the importance of trusting others.

"Why should I?" Sakusa asked, his voice an almost perfect monotone, "I've never met anyone here before, and none of them have done anything trustworthy."

(That was the exact moment, as their instructor sputtered and the class broke into giggles, that Suna realized two things. First, Sakusa was probably never going to cut it as a Hero Companion. Second, he and Sakusa would probably end up good friends.)

Four years later, Sakusa hasn't gotten any better at 'trust falls' or 'blind trails' or anything else in their class's arsenal of trust-building exercises. Sakusa is, however, indeed one of Suna's closest friends, because they've been brought together through a mutual dislike of over-enthusiastic people. (Komori is also one of Suna's closest friends, because he and Sakusa come as a package deal, and because Komori has mastered the art of trolling.)

When Suna enrolled in Hero Companionship School, he was one out of a class of forty, and every dormitory room on their floor was occupied. Four years later, their class has been shrinking daily as people get their final Companion assignments and go off to save the world.

"I don't see why I have to be someone's _Companion_ ," Sakusa says gloomily over dinner, poking irritatedly at a sad looking piece of bok choy. "I told the Magical Career Engagement Office I could either work alone, or they could give me a partner who actually puts in their all, and they said I was being unreasonable. What does that even mean."

"Dunno," Suna says, tapping away at his phone. Ostensibly, Magical Companion Phones are provided by the Hero Companion Office and should only be used for things that directly benefit one's hero, but Suna jailbroke his mcPhone in order to use it whenever and however he likes.

Information should be free. Suna doesn't believe in walled gardens.

Also, Suna really, really, really likes the game Karat Krush, even though the Hero Companion Office installed a parental lock on his phone.

"None of this would be a problem if they gave me better heroes," Sakusa says, picking up a piece of pork and inspecting it suspiciously. "The last guy tripped over his own sword. The guy before that couldn't even kill a slime monster. And then the guy before that one cried. Who the hell even does that."

"Was that the archer that didn't know how to string a bow?"

"Yeah," Sakusa says, and sighs. "I told him I was there to act as his Companion, not to compensate for his deficiencies. And then the Hero Office got mad and said I made him feel bad and I should have pretended I didn't know how to string a bow either. I don't know what they wanted us to do if we ran into any trouble. Die, maybe?"

Not for the first time, Suna thinks it's a pity Sakusa can't be a hero. Sakusa's ludicrously overqualified for the job: he's good at both offensive _and_ protective magic, in addition to archery, sword-fighting, and hand-to-hand combat. Sakusa's smart, and he keeps his head in tough situations, and he sees everything through to the very end.

But Sakusa's biggest flaw is identical to Suna's. They were both born as fairies.

If you're a human or a demigod, you get to do great things. If you're a demon, you get to do evil things. But being a fairy is something that comes with-- _expectations._

You're supposed to be dainty and beautiful and kind. You're supposed to use magic to help others, and be wildly enthused about it too. Even if you're six feet tall, like Suna and Sakusa are, you're supposed to shrink so your Hero doesn't feel emasculated.

Neither Suna nor Sakusa is any good at being a fairy, and that's how they've wound up where they are now: the only two fairies in their class without a placement.

Or they _were_ the only two fairies in their class without a placement, rather, because at that very moment, there's a loud _pop_ sound as Natsu teleports into the mostly-empty cafeteria. She seems confused for a moment, but grins once she spots Sakusa's nod and Suna's half-hearted wave in her direction from the other side of the room.

 _Pop_ , goes Natsu, blinking out of existence, and _pop_ again goes Natsu as she teleports back into existence, this time only a few feet away from the table Suna and Sakusa are sitting at.

"Hi, Suna! Hi, Sakusa!" she chirps, pulling a pair of envelopes out of the mailbag she's carrying slung over one shoulder. "You've got mail!"

"Career Office again?" Suna asks. He -- and Sakusa -- and also Natsu -- have been through this drill enough times that they know exactly how it's going to go.

"Yeah!" says Natsu, beaming at them. "Good luck, guys, I _really_ hope your assignment works out this time!"

"Doubtful, but thank you," says Sakusa, taking his envelope from Natsu.

"Yeah, thanks," Suna says, tearing his envelope open to squint at the letter inside.

"No problem!" Natsu says, grinning at them both. "Always glad to help!" She backs up a few steps, her wings fluttering, and waves brightly at them before she _pops_ right back where she came from.

"How long do you think this one's going to last," Sakusa asks in the curiously flat way Sakusa has of asking questions. "Three weeks?"

"Two," Suna says, sighing. So far, the longest assignment Suna's ever gone on lasted four weeks. The shortest one lasted two hours -- the guy said Suna's lack of facial expressions was creepy and made him seem like a serial killer. Suna thinks two weeks should be a good average.

Like all correspondence from the Office of Magical Career Engagement, the letter Suna received is written on fine parchment and calligraphed meticulously in black ink with beautiful loops and whorls and serifs. Suna doesn't actually bother reading it, though. He's seen enough of these letters for a lifetime.

The only thing that matters is the line at the very top, saying who it's addressed to ( _Suna Rintarou_ , check) and the very bottom where it has the necessary details for the Office of Magic Career Engagement's teleporter ( _Miya Osamu, Teyvat, Parallel Universe #3687S34732, spatiotemporal location NDJR8U4N,_ check).

"See you back here in two weeks," Sakusa says, sounding positively morose as he stands. "Or however long it takes to fail this one."  
  


* * *

  
The thing about Hero Companion assignments is that Suna's been on enough of them to have the routine down pat. Suna's a fairy, after all, it's not like _luggage_ is a thing. He shrinks down to the mandated two-foot height that is apparently non-emasculating, gets dressed in the (hideous) uniform all Hero Companions are required to wear, and makes sure his mcPhone is packed, along with the necessary charging cables and multiple external batteries to charge it with.

Suna really, really hopes this isn't one of those worlds that doesn't have electricity. He can power his mcPhone from his own magic if he has to, but it's hardly ideal.

"Hey, Suna!" Yukie calls out from behind her desk. "You're here for a new assignment?"

"Yeah," Suna says, shoving the letter at her. He knows he has close to no enthusiasm on his face at the moment, but Yukie's worked with Suna enough times before to not take it the wrong way. "Thanks."

As a fairy, Suna's powers of teleportation are limited. If he can visualize a location in his head, he can teleport there whenever he likes. Not having to walk is one of the few good things about being a fairy, right up there with having multiple stomachs.

But for more complex things like time travel or heading somewhere Suna's never been -- which is what Suna's going to have to do -- for something like that, Suna needs to use the Office of Magical Career Engagement's teleporter. This is what Yukie's there for: someone has to be there to punch in the coordinates for Suna, and press the big red button.

"Anytime!" Yukie says, smiling. "Okay, so N D J R . . . " She mumbles the numbers softly to herself as she frowns at the magical display in front of her. "Universe 3 . . . 6 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . . S . . . oh, that's funny, I haven't seen that in a while."

"Seen what."

"A paired assignment."

It must be obvious from Suna's expression that he has no idea what a paired assignment is, because Yukie laughs at him for a moment before she goes back to punching numbers into her terminal. "Sakusa asked me to teleport him to his assignment right before you came in, so it's still pretty fresh in my mind. Your universe ID code is only one letter off Sakusa's, and it's the same spatiotemporal location. Usually that means you'll be working together, or that your cases are somehow linked. The MCE Office didn't tell you?"

"No," Suna says. That's hardly a surprise: it's rare for anyone from the Office of Magical Career Engagement to say anything to Suna apart from complaints about his lack of enthusiasm or bizarre speeches about seizing the world by the throat to find his one true passion. (Suna doesn't get what this means either, but it's the sort of thing they're awfully fond of saying.)

"I suppose they must have their reasons," Yukie says, sounding dubious. "Okay, everything's set! Ready to go?"

The sooner he leaves, Suna thinks, the sooner he can meet his Hero, fail this assignment and go peacefully back to games of Karat Krush. ". . . yeah."

"All right, then!" Yukie waves at Suna, then presses a giant red button on her station. It's not labelled, but it doesn't have to be: it's a giant red button. The transporter room dissolves before Suna's eyes, as he begins to feel the familiar vertiginous sensation of electron spins reorienting, the buzz of orbital probabilities shifting--

Who knows, Suna thinks. If Yukie's right and he and Sakusa are supposed to work together on some weird paired assignment, maybe they'll get to fail at twice the regular rate and get back home even sooner.

It's the last thing Suna manages to think before the world goes completely black.  
  


* * *

  
Suna's never been a fan of teleportation. Under his own power? Sure. Suna likes the way it feels to bend space enough to move himself somewhere else. He likes the way people gape at him when he appears or disappears even more.

Teleportation with the Office of Magical Career Engagement's transporter? It sucks.

It's nothing to do with Yukie, who's very good at what she does. There just happens to be something innate to the process of travelling to a specific time and space that makes Suna feel like he's been turned inside out and run through a blender.

When the world around him resolves into a beach with crystalline white sand and sparkling blue oceans, Suna's first thought is not _what a beautiful and charming place_ (according to his Companion Etiquette classes, this is the sort of thing one ought to say upon entering a new location). His first thought is, _ugh, this looks like one of those godforsaken worlds without electricity_ followed by a quick _shit, what time is it? how much time do I have left?_

Back in the old days, Heroes and their Companions used to meet organically. The Companion was a kind stranger the Hero met on the road, someone they befriended who helped them along their journey. The trouble was, leaving a meeting's time and location up to chance was a process that could take months or even years.

After unfortunate fairy after fairy languished, waiting, for a Hero that might never come, the current time travel policy was instituted.

Every Hero would have a meeting location established for them, as well as a specific time that Hero was expected to be present there. Whichever fairy had been assigned would be teleported to a time roughly thirty minutes in advance, and they would then set up a contrived meeting of some sort.

Some meetings were more contrived than others.

For instance, Sakusa had once had to _pay_ people to fake-kidnap him so the Hero would have something to rescue him from. It didn't end well: the Hero fainted in terror, Sakusa ended up rescuing himself, and then when the Hero woke up, Sakusa yelled at him for being a coward, adding the poor guy to the roster of heroes whom Sakusa Kiyoomi has made cry.

This place, though . . . this place has a nice, convenient ocean right there, which makes Suna's life a lot easier. There's also only one footpath, curving along the beach, that this Miya guy could possibly take. All Suna has to do is dick around on his phone for twenty minutes, then fling himself into the ocean five minutes before Miya shows up, pretend to drown, and then let Miya rescue him.

Easy, right?

the fact that there's an ocean right there is convenient.

. . . . . . except it's _not_ so easy, it turns out, because once Suna has flung himself into the clear ocean water, the hero in question never shows up.

At first Suna thinks it's just him. Time, as people say, is relative. Suna has been known to misjudge the passage of time, particularly when he's had a few too many energy drinks.

But as Suna lies there in the ocean treading water, feeling his fingertips prune up and watching the sun inch across the sky, he is forced to admit that time is both figuratively and literally passing.

Which is to say: time may be passing, but not a single living creature has passed by to rescue Suna.

 _What is this_ , Suna thinks annoyedly to himself as he bobs up and down in the water. _What kind of hero doesn't show up when and where they're supposed to? What's wrong with this Miya guy? Did he get lost somewhere? Is he one of those die-hard heroes who rescues every kitten crossing his path? Is he taking a nap?_

Just as Suna has given up on Miya and begins to swim back to shore, Miya shows up on the winding beach footpath. Of course he does.

 _SERIOUSLY_ , Suna thinks furiously, and starts paddling back out to sea. “Help. Help.” Suna calls, trying to sound like someone drowning and in desperate need of aid. “Uh, please help.”

Suna's far enough away from Miya that he can't see the guy's features clearly. All Suna can see is that he's tall, and has greyish hair, and that there's a bump over one shoulder which is probably a backpack.

Okay, whatever. Suna doesn't actually care about this rescuing business, but he's been in the ocean for at least an hour at this point and he'd really like to get out of it.

"Help." Suna calls out. "Please. somebody help." He waves his arms around, trying to look like he's flailing. "Help. Help."

Miya does not help. What Miya does is stare in Suna’s general direction, presumably at the splashes Suna is generating. He tilts his head to one side, considering.

Great, Suna thinks, maybe now they're getting somewhere. 

Miya does something, all right. Miya slides his backpack off one shoulder, reaches inside, and pulls out a fishing rod.

Suna's not one of those traditional purists who thinks everything has to be done on horseback while wearing a full suit of armor or anything, but really? It's hard to tell what's going on from this far away, but Miya messes around with the rod for a few moments before swinging it backward and then forward, sending the fishing line -- more specifically, the hook on the end of the fishing line -- arcing into the water roughly ten or so feet to Suna's left.

Nothing happens, so Miya does it again. This time, it's twelve feet to Suna's right.

Again, nothing happens.

Realizing that this is going nowhere fast, Suna decides to cheat for try number three and outright swims to where the fishing hook is. Once Suna's there, he jams the hook through the back of his cloak, hoping he won't accidentally stab himself. When Suna tugs on the line to signal that he's secured, Miya begins reeling it in --

"Yer not a fish," is the very first thing Miya Osamu says to his Companion, staring dumbly at Suna as he holds his fishing rod -- and therefore, Suna by extension -- suspended midair.

"Neither are you," Suna replies. Apparently that's not the right thing to say, because that's precisely when Miya yelps and drops the fishing rod -- and Suna -- straight to the ground.

"Ya can _talk_?"

"Ow," Suna says, rubbing his head.

He'd be offended if he weren't busy being relieved that he didn't just land on top of a very sharp fishing hook. Normally this is the part in their script where Suna should pretend he has no idea who Osamu is and overflow with thanks before offering Osamu aid on his quest, but it's very clear to Suna that any subtlety will be completely lost on this guy so he might as well expedite matters.

" My name is Suna, I'm a fairy, and I can do magic." Suna grabs the fishing hook carefully between two fingers and yanks, hard, until it comes out of his cloak with a distinct ripping sound. "What's your name." 

"Miya . . Osamu," Miya says, slowly. "Ya can call me Osamu."

"Are you headed somewhere. Like on a quest. Is there something you need help with."

 _Please don't let this be another dragonslaying mission_ , Suna thinks wearily as he flies upward until he's roughly at eye level with Osamu. _Also, please don't let this be one of those missions where we have to wander the desert for forty days._

"I guess ya could say that?" Osamu says. He seems a bit nonplussed about the whole thing. "I'm looking for someone."

"Like a princess," Suna asks, trying not to make it obvious how completely unenthused he is about this idea. People-finding missions are bad, but princess-finding missions are the worst. It's just nothing but castle after castle after castle, and every time you think you're finally done, someone's there to tell you that you've got the wrong one and the princess is in another castle.

"Uh -- no," Osamu says. "My twin brother, actually. 'Tsumu. Atsumu. He looks just like me, except he's got blonde hair and doesn't shut up. I don't suppose ya've come across someone like that in your travels?"

"No," Suna says flatly. "But go ahead and tell me about him. I'm. I'm always glad to help."  
  


* * *

  
"So . . . ." Suna says after several minutes of exposition from Osamu. "So what you're trying to say is that you and your twin brother came here from a different world than this one. And that your brother is the kind of asshole who doesn't listen, and lies all the time, and borrows your things without asking, but a god took him away and . . . you still want him back for some reason."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. He's my twin brother, though . . . . I have to find him," Osamu says.

It's hard for Suna to tell, because Osamu doesn't have much in the way of facial expressions, but he thinks the guy might be a little bummed.

"After the god took 'Tsumu away, he cast some kind of seal on me and I lost all my powers. . . . I don't know how long it's been, or even where 'Tsumu is now. When I woke up, I was all alone until I met you."

Suna sighs. Really, what he'd like to do now is to bitch Osamu out for taking so long to find him and then fish him out of the ocean -- it's not like Suna doesn't have better things to do than float around waiting to be 'rescued'--but that's apparently Suna's cue, so.

"Yeah, Suna really owes you for that," Suna says in a monotone. "Otherwise Suna likely would have drowned. So Suna will do his best to be a great guide for you."

"Why're ya talking like that?" Osamu asks, squinting at Suna.

"Like what."

"Why do ya keep saying your name over and over?"

"That's what they tell us to do in Hero Companion school," Suna says. "I don't-- er, Suna doesn't make the rules. If he did, he definitely wouldn't be here now. _Anyway._ " Suna pauses for a moment, trying to remember his train of thought. "Uh, so Suna will do his best to be a great guide for you. We should head off. Let's get going."

Unenthusiastically clapping his hands in the way Suna has been told instills great excitement and _joie de vivre_ in all who hear it, Suna flies forward to follow the natural curve of the road. He makes it about six feet before he realizes Osamu isn't following. Osamu is sitting on the same rock as earlier, looking through his backpack and not-at-all following Suna like he should be.

". . . is something wrong." Suna asks, flitting back to just above Osamu's shoulder. "I'm sure your brother misses you. or something. so we should get going now. to find him."

Osamu says something back, but Suna can't tell what it is because his cheeks are bulging with food. After what does not seem to be a sufficient amount of chewing, he swallows, leaving specks of rice on his face. "Sorry 'bout that. It's just--er--"

"What."

"I haven't eaten in a couple hours," Osamu says, sounding a little sheepish. "And I'm starving, so maybe we could-- I mean it's not that I don't appreciate yer offering to help. But it'd be great if we could eat something before we get going. Don't travel on an empty stomach and all that."

"I thought you were worried about your twin brother."

"I was. I mean, I am. I have been. But 'Tsumu's been missing for a while, so it's not like waiting a little longer will make a difference," Osamu says. "I've got extras, if yer hungry too."

". . . . fair enough," Suna says, flying over to stare into Osamu's backpack. "What do you have?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Ghosty](http://twitter.com/ghostystarr), for looking over the beginning of this fic, and to [Eve](http://twitter.com/feralatsumu) for listening to me wail and not blocking me as I went through the various stages of insanity writing this.
> 
> [My Twitter](http://twitter.com/requitedangsted) if you want to say 'hi'.


End file.
